Improvement in uterine supporters



. G. DIRKSEN.

Improvement in Uterine-Supporters.

No. 133,018. Patented Nov.12,1872.

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GERRIET DIRKSEN, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN UTERENE SUPPORTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,038, dated November 12, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GERRIET DIRKSEN, of Freeport, in the county of Stephenson and State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Double Voltaic Uterine Supporter; and I do hereby declare the following-to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing formin g part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention attached to a belt; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the cup and hinge; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the cup with a portion of the rim broken away.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawing indicate the same parts.

The general object of uterine supporters is to retain the uterus in its proper position when, from disease or other causes, misplacement has occurred. The special object of one part of this invention is to provide a pessary which shall not only give this requisite support, but at the same time allow of the therapeutic application of a current of electricity by means of the arrangement of the elements hereinafter described, whereby painful diseases, such as dysmenorrhoea, may receive the beneficial action of the electric current. Another part of this invention consists in hingin g the connecting-rods with the cup-supporting tube in such a manner that the cup may be freely moved without irritation to the parts of the body of the wearer with which it is in contact. Another part of this invention consists in so attaching the cup-supporting tube with the curved connecting-rods that the two may be readily detached for cleansing or replacement'of a new tube. Another part of the invention consists in the construction of the tube and hinged joint in such a manner that the secretions may be passed out through the tube, hinge, and connecting-nut in front of the body, all as more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, A represents the cup or supporter, which is constructed of silver in the usual form, and is screwed to the end of a curved tube, B, of like material. The rim of the cup A. is provided with a hollow bead, G, which is perforated at suitable intervals on the upper side, and provided with a silver wire incased in a zinc coating, 1). Within the curved tube B is a zinc wire or smaller tube, D, which is sufficiently small to allow a free passage of semifluid matter through tube D. It will be seen that by the above arrangement two voltaic or galvanic circles are formed, a small portion of the secretions entering the hollow bead 0 through its perforations, and the secretions passing through the curved tube B, exerting a chemical action on the zinc portions. This electrical action is well known .to be beneficial under many circumstances.

F represents a bifurcated curved rod, which is provided at its lower end with a slotted disk, H, and at its upper ends with slots I I, which engage with studs K projecting from the front of the belt J. The curved tube B is provided near its lower end with a curved cap, L, which fits upon the periphery of the disk H, while the end of said tube passes through the slot at and is secured on the opposite side of the disk by a hollow nut, :20, the slot at being of such a width as to allow the tube B a limited vibratory play on the disk, the whole constituting a flat hinge. It will be seen that the rod F and tube B form nearly a semicircle in connection with each other, the curve being regulated by the hinge, and the whole apparatus being suspended from the belt J, on the front side of the body, in the proper position to enable the cup to support the uterus.

In the usual construction of this class of supporters a ball-hinge has been employed, having two separate rods connected to the belt, which form being necessarily bulky causes much discomfort to the wearer. My invention, however, tends greatly to obviate this difliculty, the hinge being flat and having very little lateral projection, and the rod F being single at the point of connection with the hinge. The bifurcated ends of the rod F are sufficiently elastic to be spread more or less widely apart in order to attach them to different points on the belt.

In case it is desired to prevent the supporter from swaying laterally, the ends may be seption of parts the zinc-coated wire b and the WVhen they are attached together the lower end of the tube B moves freely in the slot at in the head H, and the protecting-cap L prevents the backward flow of any matter which may collect in the slot, while the tube B, slotted head H, and hollow nut 09 will allow the ram-ore free passage of the secretions out in front of the body.

I do not broadly claim a hollow tube in stem pessaries.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- The within-describeduterine supporter, composed of the cup A, exterior tube B, interior tube D, cap L, slotted flat head H, and rod F, the tube B being extended through the slot at and secured by the hollow nut 00, all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

GERRIET DIRKSEN. WVituesscs \VILLIAM WIMER, A. T. GREEN. 

